Teacher Resources

Discussion Questions:

1. Why is climate an important factor in dividing the Earth's biomes?
2. What kinds of adaptations do organisms living in the deepest part of the oceans need?
3. Would a marine animal be able to survive in a freshwater biome?
4. What would happen if a new species of plant or animal were introduced to the biome? How would it affect the balance of the ecosystem and would the new species survive?

Extension Activities

1. Write a letter to a farmer in the tropical rain forest who wants to cut down large parts of the forest for grazing land for his cattle. What information would he need to know about the biome and the way it works? What effect will this action have on the tropical rain forest?
2. Bring in artifacts that pertain to your biome.
3. Explore local biomes through fieldtrips.
4. Find ways to help protect a biome by finding a cause and lending your support. This can be through letter writing, phone calls, talking to people to publicize the issue, making posters, changing your own actions, supporting foundations that work to protect the biomes of the world.
5. Incorporate the new vocabulary words into poems about the importance of the biomes and the interdependence of the cycles of the earth and the creatures on it. (As a preparatory activity, you can invite students to look for and share examples of poetry that addresses these themes.)
6. Students can make picture books to share with younger students. The student authors might want to include their illustrations as line drawings, and invite the younger students to color them in.
7. Students can use a covered jar to create an example of the water cycle. Mixing salt with water to simulate the ocean, students can observe the closed environment of the jar and watch as the heat inside evaporates the water and then condenses it as rain. They can measure and chart the rainfall in their small world, and compare it to rainfall statistics from the rainforest.
8. Students can create a 2-dimensional biome scene as a bulletin board to show the unique balance of the ecosystem. The bulletin board can be interactive to show the effects of any component of the rainforest being taken away or foreign components brought in. How does each change affect the balance of the biome?
9. Hold a town meeting to vote on an issue affecting your biome.